As you have perhaps by now heard, we have occupied the College Library. We have taken the space in protest against the coalition government’s proposal to obliterate the teaching subsidy (especially in Arts and Humanities) and to allow (read: structurally require) universities to charge fees that are plainly unaffordable for most UK citizens. We believe that the proposals will be woefully damaging and are (in the truest sense of that banalised term) historically unprecedented. That is to say, in the last sixty years of UK Higher Education, we believe that no government policy in our “sector” has been even nearly as exclusionary and retrograde.

In response we have decided to prevent waged work from occurring in the occupied space. We believe that the political situation we face is quite singular and that it requires a heightened response. There can be no ‘business as usual’ in the College until the defeat of Coalition proposals.

The struggle will not be confined to students. Our occupied space will be a hub for activism, for committed inquiry and for broad political discussion. Alongside members of the Lewisham community, we encourage academic and support staff from the College to join us. We write now to warmly invite academic staff to lead workshops, to give lectures, seminars, and extemporised talks in the occupation, starting now. Until our demands are met, we will be scheduling events constantly within the library space. We cannot overstate how important to us your contributions would be. To propose an event, please just come down to the library and speak to us; or alternatively you can write to the occupation atgoldagainstcuts@googlemail.com.

Please feel free to circulate this invitation to any potentially interested individuals or groups — whether affiliated with the College or not.